


Empty

by EliteDelieght



Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 04:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2297012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliteDelieght/pseuds/EliteDelieght
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoi has to be dragged from the ship. He does not want to leave, he cannot leave. Not when his sister is laying dead before him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty

The man has to drag Aoi from the ship. 

He's kicking and screaming, despair and horror clouding any sense of logic from his mind. He needs to go back, to go back to where Akane had been. He wants to stay there with her. Even if the ship is sinking- even if they need to "move, move, move, kid!"

He can't.

He can't move. 

In the end the cop grabs Aoi, dragging the struggling boy up the stairs and out into the open air. It's cool, and the sky is grey with the dawn. The other children are already gathered in a small lifeboat, shouting and waving their arms. 

Light must have followed behind them, because the blind boy vaults into the boat and helps the cop keep Aoi from bolting. As soon as they pull away from the sinking wreckage, he goes limp. 

Aoi stares at the boat slowly slipping beneath the water, and he feels empty. 

He isn't sure how long they're in the lifeboat, but he can hear the other children whispering among themselves. He can hear the crash of the waves, and the wind rustling through his hair. He realizes he's shaking, and he can't tell if it's from the cold or from something else.

Eventually they come to shore, and the children follow the cop up the beach. They're saying something about getting to a telephone, perhaps to phone for the cops or to their parents. The little girl in the pink overalls has taken Nona's hand, clutching it tightly in her own. Aoi can't help but be reminded of his own sister, and how she had held his hand when he walked her home from school. She would talk about her day, and her friend Junpei, mostly. He stops, and he looks over his shoulder.

The boat is almost completely submerged now. Akane was on that ship with him not an hour ago. 

He moves quickly, his footsteps quiet against the sand. Soon his shoes are submerged in water, and he pushes on.

They had been new shoes. He'd gotten them barely a week ago after Akane had forced him to dip into their meager funds and replace the ones that had been falling apart. She had helped him pick them out, not deterred by his insistence that they stay in the clearance aisle.

It didn't matter now. Nothing mattered, not anymore.

He's knee-deep in the water before he hears a shout of panic behind him. Footsteps are pounding across the sand but he only continues into forward.

The water is up to his waist when a hand grips his arm. He tugs uselessly against it, eyes still caught on the wreckage of the Gigantic. "Let me go." He means for it to come out firmly, but it's barely a mumble.

"Where the fuck are you going, kid?" It's the cop. Aoi still doesn't know his name, and he finds he doesn't particularly care.

"Just let me go." He's louder now, and he yanks his arm as hard as he can. The man must not have been expecting the sudden force, because he's able to wrench himself free and rush a few more feet forward. The water slows him down, unfortunately, and he's caught in a vise-like grip around his waist within seconds. 

The second he's being hauled back to shore, he starts screaming again. Aoi claws at the man's hands, nails digging into soft flesh and legs kicking frantically. He thrashes, trying to escape. His throat closes and the world turns blurry around the edges. He's filled with rage, and it clenches his chest and squeezes.

He wants to be angry. He wants to be angry at this man for letting Akane die, and he wants to be angry at Gentarou for kidnapping them and forcing them into this, he wants to be angry at the children on the beach for getting out when his sister couldn't, he /wants/ to hate himself for not being able to protect her, for not being able to grant her wish. He wants to feel the white-hot rage because he would be lost otherwise. He would be floundering in a world of grief and emptiness and he doesn't want that. He doesn't want any of this.

Aoi howls in rage, demanding to be let go even as he's shoved down onto the sand. He screams at the cop, at any of the children who try to get close to calm him down. He doesn't want to be calmed down, he wants to throw himself headlong into the water and let himself drown. His fists pound against the cop's chest, but he only grunts and continues pinning the boy to the ground.

"Let me go, let me go, let me go!! Get off of me you fucking fatass!!" He's screaming insults and obscenities, and he dimly registers that there are tears streaming down his face.

"Kid- kid, stop! I know you're angry, but calm down!"

"DON'T FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN-!" A hand lands on his shoulder. It belongs to the blind boy who had spoken so highly of his sister- the one that had saved them all. All of them except Aoi's own little sister.

Again, Aoi screams, trying to claw the boy's useless eyes out, though the cop grips his wrists to keep him from getting to Light.

Light doesn't react to the insults, only squeezing the distraught teenager's shoulder, his face a mask of calm. Eventually Aoi does stop screaming, not because his anger has subsided, but because his voice gives out. The teenager is left sobbing on the beach, the sunrise framing the defeated expression on the cop's face. 

He sits back, and Aoi merely rolls onto his side, covering his face and letting sobs wrack his body.

It takes hours to calm everyone down enough to try and find a payphone. Aoi has cried himself hoarse, and he's exhausted enough to stumble along after the others. He only goes along with them because Light is gripping his wrist- an act that might appear comforting, but is probably only to keep him from trying to drown himself a second time.

When the group of bedraggled individuals finally stumble into a gas station parking lot, it's nearly noon. The cop, who had finally introduced himself to the children as Tanaka, fishes his wallet out, and some of the children begin searching empty pockets for quarters.

Aoi watched with blank eyes. He felt empty. He didn't have a purpose now- he didn't have anything. Not without Akane. He had no one to call, no place to go except an empty apartment with an empty room where his sister should have been sleeping. 

He registers the other children calling their parents, tears of happiness and relief filling their eyes. He watches Tanaka make a call to his associates. He watches even as Light moves away from him for his turn.

Eventually the phone is pressed into his hands. They're shaking, he notes idly. Actually, his entire body is shaking. Had he ever stopped?

"Kid. You have to call your parents." The cop's voice is gruff, but Aoi thinks he might be trying to sound comforting. It comes across a bit awkwardly. You would think a cop would have the ability to be more sympathetic.

"Kid?"

"I can't." His voice is surprisingly calm. He offers the phone back, and Tanaka frowns.

"They must be worried sick. I know... I know with your sister, it's going to be-"

"They're dead. I don't have parents." Again, he sounds calm. Aoi thinks, for a moment, that it sounds rather like he's listening to himself from a long way away. 

The cop... seems surprised. Light, who has been listening from a few feet away, is frowning slightly. "Alright, who do you live with then?"

A long silence is the only immediate response. "... My sister. There was... no one else. There's no one else." Aoi is staring down at the phone, and he feels a lump rise in the back of his throat. His voice cracks slightly when he keeps talking, words rising unbidden to his lips. "I guess I don't have fucking anything now, right? I've been gone for nine days. Bet they'll fire me from my job too. I don't... I can't even afford a damn ticket on some lameass bus. I don't... have anything." 

Tanaka reaches out, maybe to take his shoulder, but Aoi's glare is enough to stop him. Again, the phone is thrust in his direction. When he doesn't accept it the teenager drops it, a disgusted sneer growing on his face. There are tears in his eyes, but he concentrates on the anger.

If he's angry, he can't feel anything else. "Are you listening? Stop looking at me like some sort of animal, you dumbass." He wishes they had let him drown.

He wishes they hadn't stopped him. 

Without Akane he has nothing. Nothing but rage and emptiness.

He thinks of Gentarou Hongou and his breath catches. If he can't have his sister back, then he will avenge her.

He will make that man pay for what he has taken.


End file.
